In oil wells and other similar applications in which the production of fluids is desired, a variety of fluid lifting systems have been used to pump the fluids to surface holding and processing facilities. It is common to employ various types of downhole pumping systems to pump the subterranean formation fluids to surface collection equipment for transport to processing locations. One such conventional pumping system is a submersible pumping assembly which is supported and immersed in the fluids in the wellbore. The submersible pumping assembly includes a pump and a motor to drive the pump to pressurize and pass the fluid through production tubing to a surface location. A typical electrical submersible pump assembly (“ESP”) includes a submersible pump, an electric motor and a seal section interdisposed between the pump and the motor. Sometimes the ESP assembly can include a separator to isolate fluids of different phases from one another. Depending on the particular application, the pump is usually a centrifugal pump or a progressing cavity pump.
Not all wells from which fluid is pumped with an ESP assembly are vertical. Some wells are deviated, i.e. not vertical, and some have are highly deviated and include horizontal portions. Because the upper portions of substantially all wells are vertical, wells having a horizontal portion bend when transitioning from vertical to horizontal. The bend in the well can introduce difficulties when deploying the ESP assembly, as the segments of the ESP assemblies form an elongate rigid member; which must flex to the same radius as the bend when being inserted downhole.